For 20 years after the war, the Resistance was the presiding myth of French society. No one would say that now. A generation that never experienced occupation and respected no icons, began to ask awkward questions.
The claim of the résistants to have made a serious contribution to the military balance was the first thing to go. The early demonstrations, minor explosions and assassinations of prominent Germans were mere fleabites on an enormous elephant. Only when it was clear that Germany would lose did the Resistance become a more significant force. Even then its achievements were modest: a handful of sabotage operations against war production facilities and a useful but minor contribution to the disruption of German communications during the D-Day landings. Arthur Koestler’s prediction in 1942 that the French would be fairweather friends, turned out to be uncannily accurate:
When the scales of success turn in favour of England, the barricades will emerge from the pavements of the towns of France, the snipers will appear behind the attic windows and the people will fight as in the old days.
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